I'm a fool for loving you
by JennCullen4928
Summary: One phone call. That's all it took to turn her fairytale romance into a disaster. But something bigger was about to take Peyton Sawyer by surprise. Just sit back and watch the fireworks.....Leyton with bits of Naley!
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

We were happy. Or at least we were most of the time. I was in Los Angeles working at a record comapny interning and Lucas was in New York working on publishing his novel. We saw each other as much as we could. Although it was hard being away from each other so much, we vowed to make it work.

I'll never forget the night I got the phone call. We had been dating for close to four years. Three of which were spent away from each other on opposite coasts. I got the call on March 14th...

**Chapter One**

"Hello?" I answer breathlessly. I had just got home from work to the phone ringing insistently.

"Peyton? You sound out of breath?" I smile broadly at the sound on the other end of the phone.

"Yeah, I just got home from work. What's up?"

"We need to talk." My smile immediatly fades. I can tell something is wrong, but nothing could prepare me for what was about to come out of his mouth.

"Lucas, what is it?" I ask softly.

"I can't do this anymore. I can't keep doing this long distance relationship thing. It's too hard. I just...it doesn't seem fair to either one of us." he blurts out.

I feel the tears immediately forming in my eyes. After almost four years together, he's just willing to throw it all away?

"Fine. I can quit, I can move to New York with you. We can make this work-"

"No, Peyton. I'm not going to let you do that. I'm sorry...for everything."

Without realizing it, I hang up the phone and dial the one number that's as familiar to me as my own name.

"This is Brooke."

I choke out a sob. I try and speak, but it just comes out as more sobs.

"Peyton?! Peyton, are you okay? Peyton, answer me!" Brooke pleads.

"He's gone." I whisper through my tears.

"I'm coming over. Don't move." Brooke hangs up with me, runs to her car, and speeds over to my house. When she gets there, she sees me trashing my apartment.

"Peyton, what happened?" Brooke asks softly.

"He said he couldn't do this anymore. That the distance was too hard. That it wasn't fair to either one of us." I choke out.

"He was just here. He was here a week ago, and nothing was wrong. You guys were happy." Brooke says in disbelief.

I run into my bedroom and start throwing everything that reminds me of Lucas into a garbage bag. Pictures, letters, emails that I printed out, everything. I make my way out to the trash can but Brooke stops me. "Don't do that. I'll take care of it." she offers. Suddenly, I just collapse into her arms sobbing uncontrollably. She strokes my hair just repeating "It's gonna be okay. You'll be okay. I'm here."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Two months later, I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that I will never feel normal again. I've lost the best thing in my life, and I don't know exactly how to handle that. I've also been violently ill for the past week and a half. I haven't had a period since me and Lucas broke things off, and I just chalked it up to stress.

Me and Brooke are sitting in my apartment having a quiet dinner when I bring up my missed periods. She nearly chokes on her food. "What?!" she asks. "I'm sure it's just stress. Just my body fucking with me." I assure her. "Come on." she says grabbing her keys and purse. "Where are we going?" I ask. "To the drugstore. We're getting you a pregnancy test."

We go to the local CVS and Brooke buys just about every brand of pregnancy test there is. The guy at the cash register looks at us both like we're crazy. Which probably isn't too far from the truth.

When we get back to my house, Brooke hands me one of the tests. "Go pee" she orders me.

I take the test thinking how ridiculous this whole thing is, when suddenly I see two lines pop up. I grab the test and read the instructions again. "No, no, no, no, no. This can't be right." I whisper to nobody in particular. "Brooke! Get me another test!" I yell. I go through fifteen tests all with the same result; positive.

I'm sitting on the couch trying very hard not to lose it. "How am I going to do this? How the hell am I going to raise a baby knowing that it's father wants nothing to do with them or me? How the hell could this happen?"

My thoughts trail back to the last night that me and Lucas spent together, a week before the phone call that changed everything.

_"Lucas, please." I moan._

_He kisses his way down my body, driving me crazy. He knows exactly what spots to touch and kiss to make my beg. _

_I run my hands through his hair. He reaches into his bag for a condom, but I stop him. _

_You really want to try?" he whispers softly._

_I smile. "Yeah, I do."_

_We make love with reckless abandon, forgetting the whole world and just focusing on us, never knowing that a child would actually be concieved that night._

Brooke stil has her hands over her mouth. "If you guys were trying to get pregnant, why would he break things off?" she asks quietly. "Maybe he realized that it was too much for him to handle. So he decided to be a chickenshit." I answer. "Peyton, are you going to tell him?"

"No."

She sighs, but takes me into her arms. "We'll get through this together."

I make the decision the next day to leave Los Angeles. I'm going to keep this baby and L.A. is no place to raise a baby, in my opinion. I want my child to grow up in the same place that I did, and experience all the great things I did in my childhood. I quit my job, terminate the lease on my apartment, and get on a plane headed to my new home...Tree Hill, North Carolina.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

It's been three months since I moved back to Tree Hill. Three months since I had to explain to Karen, Haley, and Nathan that Lucas left me and I was pregnant with his child. Three months of health scares from stress that almost resulted in my having a miscarriage.

I decided to rent out a two bedroom apartment only five minutes away from Nathan and Haley's house, and spent all my free time decorating it and starting work on the nursery that would belong to my baby daughter in four short months. I began working at **Thud **again and helping Karen out part time at the cafe' for extra money. Nobody dared mention Lucas in my presence for fear of what my reaction might be. None of them could believe what had transpired between us, and Lucas still didn't know about the baby, which is how I intended to keep it. Until the day that he also showed up unexpectedly in Tree Hill.

Nathan, Haley and I were sitting in the cafe' laughing and talking. It felt really good to smile again, and for the first time in a while, everything seemed like it was going to be okay. "I can't believe that I'm gonna have a little neice!" Nathan exclaims. I'm beyond thrilled at the fact that I'm having a girl. Knowing that "damn Scott sperm" I was almost positive that I'd be having a boy. I rub my expanding stomach. I'm five months and one week along and it seems like it just flew by. Occasionally I wonder what Lucas is doing and resist the urge to call him. Even though he left and shattered my life into pieces, a part of me still felt like he deserved to know about the life that I was carrying inside of me.

"Ok kiddos, I think I'm gonna go home and take a nap. This one here is doing somersaults and it's wearing me out." I say as I get up and stretch. I hug Nathan and Haley and Karen comes around the counter to hug me. I hear the bells at the top of the door jingle signaling someone entering but pay no attention to it. Until I hear a collective gasp around the room. "Wha-" I start as I turn around.

As soon as I turn around, I see what everyone was gasping about. Lucas.

My hand flies instintively to my swollen stomach hoping that he wouldn't see, but with me wearing a black tank top with a bit of belly showing, it's pretty damn obvious.

The first thing that he notices is Peyton's hand fly to her stomach. _Her stomach_ There's no denying that she's pregnant, and for a minute, he feels like he might vomit.

"Peyt-" he starts before my eyes roll back in my head and I slump to the ground.

"Oh my God, Peyton! Peyton, wake up!" Nathan yells as he rushes over to me.

"Karen, call an ambulance!" he shouts.

Within minutes an ambulance comes and transports me to the hospital, with the others following close behind.

It isn't until they're all assembled in the waiting room of the hospital that the fact that Lucas is actually here sets in. Suddenly the silence is broken by the sound of a hand striking a face. Lucas stumbles back, shocked at the fact that his mom hit him.

"Five months Lucas! Five months she's been carrying your baby and she hasn't heard a damn word from you! No explanation as to why you ended things, nothing. How could you?" she shouts.

"Mom-" he looks to Nathan and Haley for maybe some sort of backup but their eyes are focused on the floor.

"I wasn't there enough. I couldn't give her what she needed when I was 3,000 miles away. Me visiting her every month wasn't enough. I was just doing what I thought was best for her, so she could move on with her life." Lucas says softly.

"And you couldn't have decided this before you guys decided to try and have a baby?" Nathan speaks up for the first time since his brother entered the cafe'.

Lucas is silent.

"I moved back today. I wanted it to be a surprise." he finally says.

_Yeah, this is going to be one hell of a surprise for Peyton _Haley thinks to herself.

After about 45 minutes, a doctor comes out to tell everyone that I'm fine, just a mild concussion and some bumps and bruises from hitting the floor.

"Can I go see her?" Lucas asks softly.

"Sure, she's in room 323" the doctor tells him.

Karen tries to stop him. "She doesn't need this right now. She doesn't need the stress on her or the baby."

"Mom, I need to try and make things right." he says before heading off to my room.

I open my eyes when I hear the door open. When I see who it is, I want nothing more than to get up and run away. But with me connected to fetal monitors and the such, that's kind of hard.

Before Lucas can speak, I motion to the chair by the bed.

He sits down and looks at me uncertainly. "What the hell are you doing here Luke?" I ask bitterly.

"I left New York. I bought a house here." he says.

"I didn't mean in Tree Hill, I meant here at the hospital." I explain

"Peyton, you're pregnant."

I roll my eyes. "Yes, I'm pregnant, no thanks to you. I've been pregnant for five fucking months without a word from you. Yes, I'm keeping the baby, and no, I don't want your help. Or your pity."

A few tears slip down my cheek and I brush them away hastily.

"God, Lucas, we decide that we want to try for a baby and then a week later, you call and say that it's not working out. You never called back, you never expalined, I got nothing. I thought you cared just a little more than that." I cry

"Peyton I'm-"

"Get out." I whisper.

He doesn't move. "I said get the fuck out! I don't want you here! I don't want you to have any part of my life or my daughter's life! Leave now!" I yell.

He walks out of my hospital room sobbing and it's not until I'm postive that he's out of earshot that I too break down uncontrollably.

Nathan and Haley rush in and sit my my bedside. Haley hugs me as close as the tubes and wires will allow and strokes my hair. "Peyton, it's gonna be okay. Everything's going to be fine."

Meanwhile, Nathan leaves to go find his brother.

He finds Lucas at the Rivercourt sitting on one of the benches.

"I didn't know." he says sadly.

"Neither did any of us until she showed up here three months ago. Lucas, why did you come back?" Nathan asks.

"I made a mistake. I thought it would be better if we just ended things. I couldn't ask her to leave L.A. She had too much going for her. I saw the way she looked whenever I had to leave, and I couldn't do that to her anymore. I had no idea that she was pregnant."

Nathan sits down next to his brother and hands him a picture.

Lucas takes it and realizes it's a sonogram picture. "It's a girl. She just found out a couple days ago." Nathan tells him.

"I don't know how to fix this."

"I honestly don't know if you can. She feels like you proved her right. People always leave." Nathan says.

He walks away leaving Lucas alone to wonder how he could be so stupid as to let her go.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

A week after our reunion at the hospital, I'm visiting with Nathan and Haley at their house. "Aunt Peyton! Watch!" Jaime yells as he gets ready to leap off the diving board. It's August 12th, the day before my birthday. I smile as I watch Jaime jump off the diving board over and over again. Finally he gets out of the pool and comes over by the rest of us. "Aunt Peyton, why don't you come swimming with me?" he asks. "You don't want me to drown do you? I got this big old baby weighing me down!" I laugh. Suddenly the baby gets really playful. I take Jaime's hand and put it on my stomach so he can feel the kicks. "Whoa!!!" he says surprised. We all laugh.

After Jaime goes inside, I lean back in my chair. "So have you and Lucas talked since the hospital?" Nathan asks.

"I've seen him around town a couple times, but I can't work up the nerve to talk to him. I never really had time to prepare for this. I mean, he's the father of my baby, and he should be in her life. But how can that happen without just totally screwing with me and him? I can't take that chance again. Not when there's something way bigger to be considered." I explain.

Haley takes my hand. "Peyton, I've known Lucas since we were in grade school. I've never seen him look at anyone else the way that he looks at you. He knows that he made a huge mistake and he's willing to try anything to fix it. He still loves you, and you know that. You have a part of him growing inside you. That's not something that you can just run away from."

I smile at her, wondering how she tended to be right ALL THE TIME.

"Hang on, hang on! I'm coming!" Lucas yells as he rushes to get the door.

When he opens it, he's shocked to see me standing on the other side of it.

"Hi."

"Hi. Um, if this is a bad time, I can come back." I tell him.

"No, it's okay. I was just getting unpacked some more. Come on in." Lucas says.

I step inside and look around the living room. He has it decorated just the right way, nice and warm and inviting. And I know he did it himself.

I sit down on the sofa and Lucas sits on the loveseat across from me. I play with my rings for a minute before beginning.

"I'm sorry that I flipped out on you in the hospital. I just...I didn't expect to see you. With everything that's happened, seeing you just kind of threw me for a loop." I say softly.

"We didn't exactly leave things on the best of terms." Lucas says. He looks down at his shoes, as if afraid to look me in the eye.

I grab his hand and he looks up.

"Listen, I know why you did what you did. And I get it. It was hard for me too, being away from you for so long and only getting to see you once a month. It killed me. But you made your decision without me. And that wasn't fair. Because you know that I would have dropped everything to come to New York with you. Hell, I ended up leaving L.A. anyways."

"When did you find out-"Lucas starts.

"That I was pregnant? About two months afterwards."

"It happened the last time we were together." he whispers, almost to himself.

I feel a tear stinging my eye, and I try my hardest not to let it fall.

I take his hand again. "Listen, you are a part of our daughter, and I"m not going to deny you knowing her. You can be in her life as much as you want to. I'm not going to keep her from you. You don't deserve that."

He looks up at me with tears in his eyes. "I"m so sorry Peyt. This isn't how I pictured this scenario. I tried to imagine it so many times in my head. Us being a family. And I ruined it."

At that moment, the baby decides to wake up and start bouncing around. I sit next to Lucas on the loveseat. "Come here." I whisper. I take his hand and place it on my belly. I see Lucas smile when he feels our daughter kick. "That's pretty amazing." he says. I laugh. "Yeah, not so much at two in the morning."

Three hours later, I finally leave Lucas' place and head home. Nathan is waiting outside my door. "Hey stalker." I call.

"Hey yourself. Where were you? Your phone was turned off."

"I was over at Lucas'"

Nathan raises an eyebrow. "And?"

"I told him that he could be in the baby's life as much as he wanted and that I wasn't going to keep her from him." I tell him.

Nathan hugs me. "I know that this has been really hard on you. You've been really really brave. This is one lucky little girl to have such a cool mom."

"Yeah I am pretty badass aren't I?" I laugh.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

The next morning I wake up to my phone ringing incredibly loud. I roll over and look at the alarm. 10:15am. I look at the caller ID and smile. "Hey Brooke." I answer happily. "Good morning best friend. Happy birthday!" Brooke says. "It'd be an even happier birthday if it were December already so I could get this baby out of me." I laugh. There's a moment of silence before Brooke speaks up. "So Haley told me about what happened between you and Lucas. I'm so sorry that I wasn't there. That had to be hard." "Yeah especially since I was finally putting it all behind me, but I talked to him last night and told him that I wasn't going to stop him from being in the baby's life. He's got a clean slate, but I don't know if I can ever trust him enough again to be with him." I tell her.

We talk for a while more before I finally get dressed and start cleaning up and being productive. Well, sort of being productive. It's hard to do anything when my phone won't stop ringing.

At 8pm, Haley calls me. "Hey girl. What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Just working on the nursery some more." I tell her.

"Why don't you come down to Tric? We can sit here and you can watch me have a drink."

I smile. "Sure, why not. I'll be down there in a bit.

I go into my room and slip on a pair of black pants and a red off the shoulder shirt and then head off to the club.

When I pull up to the club, it's dark and there's no music playing. I get out of the car and unlock the door. As soon as I pull open the door, the lights come on and everyone I know is standing there shouting "Surprise!"

But the real surprise is seeing Brooke standing with everyone else. I run up and hug her tightly. She rubs my belly. "God, P. Sawyer, you got huge." she laughs. I punch her in the arm.

I hug everyone there and thank them all for coming. Finally I sit down next to Lucas at one of the tables. "This is amazing. How did you guys pull this off without me finding out?" I laugh. Lucas just shrugs. "We're good like that. Did you honestly think that we wouldn't do anything for your birthday?"I smile and feel a blush creeping up my cheeks. After a while, Karen comes out with a huge chocolate/chocolate cake with 21 candles on it. "Make a wish!" Haley exclaims. _I wish that I can forgive Lucas and we can all be a family_ I close my eyes and blow out the candles. Everyone claps and we cut the cake. "It kind of sucks that it's my 21st birthday and I can't even drink." I tell Karen laughing. "I think she can handle a glass of wine, don't you?" she asks me. I smile. "This baby is ready to tend bar." After we all have cake we just scatter around the bar, dancing, talking, or just relaxing.

I walk up to Lucas. "Dance with me."

He gets up and we move to the dance floor. He wraps his arms around me and I can't help but just melt a little bit. It's been too long since we've been this close. Since he's held me like that. Too long since we've been close enough so I can smell the subtle traces of his cologne. I want to have this again, be able to have it every day and not just fleeting glimpses of it. I want to be with the man who's the father of my baby. I want us to be a family and not just two people who have a kid together.

"What are you thinking about?" Lucas asks.

I take a shaky breath. "I was just thinking about how much I missed you. The little things...like how you used to pile all the blankets on me because you would get too hot, catching whiffs of your cologne when you walked past me, dancing like this in the front room just because. It just feels like forever since we've been this close."

Lucas holds me tighter to him. "I missed you too." he whispers. "I missed all of you. The way you would sketch in the middle of the night when you couldn't sleep, the way you would smell after you got out of the shower...Peyt, I don't want to miss you again."

I look up at him and look right into his blue eyes and for a minute, everything goes away. There's no anger, no pain, no confusion. Just us. Lucas and Peyton, the way that it should be. He kisses me softly, placing his hand on my stomach. We're both oblvious to the fact that everyone around us is in total shock. His tongue slips into my mouth, and I moan softly. Despite my conscience telling me to stop, I don't listen and kiss him back just as passionately. After a good couple of minutes, we fnally break apart. My lips are swollen from his kisses, and I know that my face is turning red.

I step back, unsure of myself. "I'll be right back." I tell Lucas. I head to the bathroom and a minute later, Haley and Brooke come in after me.

I turn towards them with tears streaming down my cheeks. "I told myself I wasn't going to do this again. I wasn't going to fall in love with him again." I whisper. They both hug me tightly. "Hun, by the way it looked to me, I think you already did." Haley says. I laugh softly. "How can he do that? How can I go from being over him to being pissed at him, back to loving him? It doesn't make any goddamn sense!" I exclaim. "Does love ever make sense Peyton?" Brooke asks. I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand. "Well, hell, I've gone this far, I might as well just throw myself out there."

When I come out of the bathroom, Lucas stops me.

"Lucas-"

"Peyton-"

We both smile. "If you hurt me again, I'll kick you in the face. I'm throwing all of my good judgement out the window right now, and please, please don't make me regret it." I ramble.

Lucas kisses me softly. "I won't."

Two months pass, and it's like Lucas and I were never apart. Brooke made it clear that if he ever hurt me again that she'd kick his ass and make him wish he'd never met her.

"Luke, I gotta go home. I haven't been to my apartment in a week. I need more clothes. I need to pay rent." I laugh. I get up and pull my hair back into a ponytail and rub my ever expanding stomach.

"Move in with me." Lucas says. I laugh and then realize that he wasn't kidding.

"Babe, I can't just pack up and move in with you. I have too much crap. Plus, where would we put the baby? I finally got the nursery done last week."

Lucas gets up off the bed and grabs my hand and pulls me down the hall. He opens the door to one of the bedrooms and I gasp. Tears spring to my eyes immediately and I can't stop them. There's a beautiful mahogany crib against the wall, a rocking chair by the window, a changing table and dresser, everything our baby could possibly need. Not to mention the whole room has been pained pink with Whinnie the Pooh characters on the walls. "How? When?" I ask. "Nathan helped me. We started right after your birthday. I knew that I'd need a place for the baby, and I figured it'd be good motivation for you to move in with me." he says. I throw my arms around him and kiss him. "Fine, I'll move in with you. But you do all the heavy lifting." I whisper.

The next day, all the stuff from my apartment is being moved into Lucas' house, and what we don't need is being put into storage. That night, me and Lucas are laying in our bed. I snuggle up against him. "You know, when I moved back, I had no idea how I was going to pull this off. I never thought that when we had a kid I would be a single mom. I'm glad that I have you with me. And I'm glad that we found our way back."I whisper. He smiles. "It was all part of my grand master plan to get you in my bed." We both laugh.

Before we fall asleep, Lucas kisses me. "I love you, Peyt."

"I love you too Luke."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

As we move into December, I'm relieved that my pregnancy is almost over and that Lucas and I will finally get to meet our baby girl. My due date isn't until the 16th, but it feels like she could show up at any moment. Lucas watches me constantly, like a time bomb waiting to go off. I continue working at **Thud **and at Karen's when I have the energy, although most of the time she banishes me to just sitting down my entire shift.

Lucas and I are in the bathroom getting ready to head over to Nathan and Haley's house for my baby shower. "I'm kinda scared. Every party she's thrown ends up having tons of booze and naked people." I laugh.

"I guess we're about to find out." Lucas says with a smile.

When we arrive over at Nathan and Haley's, I can't believe the effort that they put into this thing. There's ton of decorations up, a ton of food, lots of booze for the non pregnant people, and there's a baby quilt hanging up with blank squares so people can write their own little notes. And there are presents. Lots and lots of presents. Karen and Deb show up shortly after us. Karen hugs me as tightly as my stomach can alow. "How you feeling?" she asks. "Huge. I'm really ready to get this over with." I tell her honestly.

First we all sit down and eat and talk. Karen breaks out old baby pictures of Lucas while Brooke offers up baby pictures of me that she got from my dad. Everyone laughs and argues who the baby is going to look more like.

During the whole thing, the baby doesn't move once, which usually means it's going to be a very entertaining night for me.

Lucas and I have a ball opening up all the baby presents. Brooke got us four newborn outfits, a pair of pink adidas baby gym shoes, and a baby book. Karen got us a stroller/carseat, Deb got us a baby swing and a playpen, and Nathan, Haley, and Jaime got us a new digital camera and photo printer, a baby bath set, bedding for the crib, and a few outfits. Plus we got enough diapers from everyone to last us at least a few months.

As the days tick closer I get more and more anxious. Before we know it, the 16th comes and goes and then I get REALLY impatient. The doctor asks me if I want to be induced, but I say no. I know that she'll come on her own time.

December 22, I wake up cranky and feeling huge and mad that it's been a week since my due date and my baby girl still isn't here. I get up and start breakfast and turn on the T.V. Lucas wakes up shortly after I do and joins me downstairs. He rubs my belly. "Are you gonna make mommy and daddy happy and come out today?" he asks my tummy. I laugh. "Probably not. Stubborn baby."

I pick at my breakfast and only eat a little bit. "You okay?" Lucas asks.

"Yeah, my stomach just doesn't feel right. Baby's taking up too much room."

I start working on my next project for **Thud** when I start having contractions. I have four contractions, each 12 minutes apart. Lucas comes into our room and sees me with my head down on my desk. I look up at him and blow a stray strand of hair out of my face. "You might want to go grab my bag. I'm pretty sure I'm in labor." I tell him. He grabs my bag and we head to the hospital where they hook me up to a fetal monitor and start measuring my contractions. The nurse comes in and talks to me and Lucas. "Peyton, you're already progressing very well. You might end up having your baby by later tonight." she tells me. I lay back on the pillows and rub my stomach.

After a few hours, I finally fall asleep and Lucas goes out into the waiting room to sit with the others. "How's she doing?" Karen asks. "She's asleep right now. The doctor said she should try and sleep now so she has as much energy as possible for later." Lucas says. He sits down and sighs. Nathan smiles. "Man, you're gonna have a daughter tonight." Lucas smiles too. "I'm excited as hell, but I'm also scared as hell. What if I'm not ready to be a dad?" Haley hugs him. "Nathan didn't know what he was doing at first either. But you guys have each other and I know you guys are going to be great parents. And your kid is going to be amazing." she assures him.

The hours tick by and still nothing. Me and Lucas play cards, watch TV, and talk.

Karen comes in and stays with me while Lucas gets some sleep out in the waiting room.

"Are you ready to do this?" she asks me.

"Yeah. More than ready. I think I've been ready since I found out I was pregnant." I laugh.

She takes my hand. "I'm really glad that you and Lucas worked things out. I didn't want to have to see you go through what I went through with Lucas. I know that he hurt you before, but I also know that he loves you and this baby more than anything in the world." Karen tells me.

I smile and suddenly wish that he was next to me again.

Around 1:30am a nurse comes out into the waiting room and wakes Lucas.

"What is it? Is Peyton okay?" he asks

"Well, she's about to have the baby. You better get in there." the nurse laughs. She tosses him a pair of scrubs to put on over his clothes. When he walks back into my hospital room, I burst out laughing despite the pain. "Thanks." Lucas says with a smile.

"Okay, Lucas, I'm going to need you to sit behind Peyton with one leg on either side of her body. You're gonna be supporting her as she's pushing. Peyton, I need you to start pushing on the next contraction.

When my next contraction hits, I push as hard as I can. "Come on baby, you can do this. I got you. Come on." Lucas whispers. I push again and the doctor announces that the baby's head is out. "Peyton, I need one more big push from you. Come on, one more big one." the doctor says. I brace myself against Lucas' body and push as hard as I can, screaming my lungs out the whole time.

Out in the waiting room, everyone winces when they hear me screaming. "Were you that loud when we had Jaime?" Nathan asks. "I had an epidural. Peyton wanted to do it the natural way. Which I think she's probably regretting now." Haley says.

The doctor holds up our daughter and I break down into tears. Lucas gets up and cuts the umbilical cord and goes over and watches as the nurses clean her up and take her height and weight. The nurse comes over and places my new daughter on my chest. I look up at Lucas and he too has tears in his eyes. I look down at this brand new person and I can' t believe that we created something so beautiful and so innocent. She stops crying for a minute and just looks up at me with blue eyes identical to Lucas' and yawns. I smile. "Hi, Elizabeth. Hi baby."I whisper. I hand her to Lucas and it's almost funny seeing this big strong guy holding something so tiny and so precious.

"Do you want to try and feed her?" the nurse asks. I nod, and Lucas hands the baby back to me. Lucas helps me untie the back of the hospital gown and I begin to nurse our daughter. The nurse comes back in ten minutes and smiles. "Wow, you're a natural. Most moms have trouble their first time but it looks like she did a great job." she tells me. "She's a pirannah." I laugh. Elizabeth is still feeding. After I'm done nursing everyone comes in and sees Elizabeth for the first time.

I hand her to Karen who oohs and ahhs over her and how her eyes are identical to Lucas'. I know for a fact that unlike other babies', her eyes are never going to change color. When Nathan holds her, his eyes light up. "Hey, Elizabeth. I'm your Uncle Nathan, and I'm gonna spoil you rotten. And teach you how to shoot a three pointer." he coos. I laugh and roll my eyes.

All at once the exhaustion hits me and I fall asleep right in the middle of a conversation.

Everyone says goodbye to Lucas and Elizabeth and head home for the night while Lucas falls alseep on a cot next to my bed.

_We're finally a family. _Lucas thinks to himself as he smiles.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

It's been a week since we brough baby Ellie home and we've finally settled into a routine. We both get up, I feed the baby, we take turns showering, give the baby a bath, I feed her again, nap, feeding, I work on my projects for the magazine, and more feeding. We both get up during the night to take care of Ellie.

I've dropped a considerable amount of the weight from my pregnancy since I"ve had her, and I love my new curves.

"Hey Karen." I say as we all walk in her house.

"Hey guys. Hey Elizabeth." she coos.

"Can I hold her?" she asks.

"Go for it." I tell her.

We sit down at the kitchen table and catch up. We haven't really seen anyone since the baby was born because we were just trying to get adjusted to her and try and settle into a routine. "So how's life with a newborn?" Karen asks

"Hectic, but good. Lucas is still trying to master changing diapers." I laugh looking at him

"Yeah...those things are trickier than they look." Lucas says, smiling.

Lily comes inside and sees the baby. "Ooh, hi Ellie!!" she whispers. "Can I hold her Peyton?" she aks in a tiny voice.

"Yeah go ahead." I tell her. She sits down and Karen gently hands her the baby.

"Two hands" we all say at the same time.

My cell phone rings and I go into the living room to answer it. "Hey Nathan, what's up?" I ask. "Not much. We haven't talked to you guys much since the baby was born and I was always too afraid to call. I didn't want to wake her up or anything." he says. "Don't worry about it. She barely sleeps." I laugh. "You guys wanna come by later?" "Actually we're at Karen's right now. You guys could stop on over here if you want." I tell him. "Cool, we'll be over in a little bit."

While I'm in the living room on the phone, Lucas and Karen catch up.

"So what do you think of fatherhood?" Karen asks him.

Lucas takes a deep breath. "It's a lot to get used to, but Peyton's been amazing. It's like she was born for this. She doesn't panic or anything, she just automatically knows what to do. I mean, I read all the baby books I could get my hands on but nothing really prepares you for it. I'm just really glad that we're back together and we're actually a family." Lucas tells her.

"I'm really proud of you Luke. This is a lot to handle for you guys at such a young age, but you guys are doing a great job. Ellie's lucky to have such great parents." Karen tells him.

Right as I come back in the kitchen, Ellie starts fussing. I take her from Lily and hold her to me for a minute and she stops crying.

"Why doesn't she do that for me? She just cries when I hold her." Lucas laughs.

"Because I'm super mommy." I tell him.

"She needs to be fed. Can I use Lucas' room for a few minutes?" I ask Karen. "Go ahead." she tells me.

I step into Lucas' old bedroom and it's like going back in time. Karen left it almost exactly the same. I sit on the bed and unbutton my top and start feeding Elizabeth. She's already getting so chubby because she eats so much. I wait five minutes and I switch sides. "Ellie, you're killing mommy's boobs." I laugh. She just looks up at me innocently.

After she's done eating, I hold her against my chest and burp her. And boy, does she burp.

"Wow, you sound just like your daddy." I tell her.

I lay back on the bed with my beautiful baby girl in my arms.

"You know, I don't ever want you to think that you were a mistake. Me and your daddy planned for you, but things went kind of off track and you were kind of a surprise anyway. But I don't regret it for a minute. Me and daddy love you more than you can ever imagine. You have so many people who think you're just the coolest thing ever. Grandma Karen, Grandpa Larry, Aunt Haley and Uncle Nathan, and Aunt Brooke, they all think you're amazing. Your Grandpa Keith would have gotten a kick out of you. He was a really cool guy. But I know that he's always looking down on you, just like Grandma Anna and Grandma Ellie." I tell her.

Meanwhile Lucas and Karen are listening to me talk to my daughter with tears in their eyes.

"Keith would have loved this; seeing you become a father." Karen says.

"I know. I think becoming a father made me realize how much I miss him. I always imagined that he'd be here to see me have kids and start a family."

"He'd be proud of you. Of the man that you've become."

Lucas smiles. "I'm gonna go check on them." I look up as I hear Lucas come in the room. "Hey." I whisper. He sits down next to me on the bed. "Hey. Hi, baby girl." He puts his arm around me and kisses Elizabeth on the head. "Can you believe that we made her? She's the absolute best part of both of us." Lucas says. I smile. "I still remember that night. The night that she was concieved." I smile. "Yeah...God, that was a great night." he says. "She's what brought us back together and she will never know how much I love her for that."

Nathan and Haley arrive shortly after and we all have dinner and talk and laugh and just enjoy the feeling of family.

That night when I'm getting ready for bed I hear singing coming from the nursery. I smile at the fact that even though Lucas knows he can't carry a tune, he's still singing for his little girl. I finish getting into my pjs and slip down the hall to the nursery and peek in. Lucas is sitting in the rocking chair holding Elizabeth singing something I think he made up. She gurgles and looks up at him with her big blue eyes and his heart just breaks. "You're gonna be in so much trouble when you get older. Me and mommy are gonna have to keep you locked in the house away from all those boys." he tells her.

"Yeah my dad told me the same thing and look what happened." I say.

Lucas looks up and smiles. "I didn't realize you were there."

I step in the room. "I was just peeking in."

Lucas gets up and places the baby in her crib. "You're an amazing father, you know that?" I ask. "Yeah, well, we're only a week in. I'm sure I'm gonna have some not so amazing moments too." he says. "Well, we're in this together. We're learning as we go along."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Before either of us know it, Ellie is six months old, and she seems to be growing by the minute. Lucas stumbles out into the kitchen, wiping the sleep from his eyes. I'm standing at the sink holding Ellie in one arm and trying, unsuccessfully, to have a cup of coffie. Every time I try and take a drink out of the cup, she reaches for it and tries to pull it away.

"You are way too young for coffee, missy. I know me and your mommy are caffeine addicts, but you're gonna have to earn that."Lucas says. I smile and give him a kiss. "Here, have a baby." I tell him as I hand Ellie to him. I take a sip of my coffee and sigh. "Ahh...coffee." I fix Lucas a plate of eggs and pancakes and take the baby. "Here ya go." I tell him. He sits down. "How long have you been up?" he asks laughing. "About two hours. Miss cranky pants woke me up wanting to be fed and didn't want to go back to sleep." I tell him. He laughs as Ellie tries to grab his fork. "I'm not sure, but I think she wants a taste of grown up food." he tells me. "Yeah, I think so."

After breakfast, we hang out in the living room and put on cartoons for the baby. I'm not sure if she cares what's on TV, but she seems to like it when we have cartoons on. I lay in Lucas' lap as we watch Ellie scoot around on the floor. She's been trying to crawl for about a week now, but all she does is get up on her knees and just rock back and forth. "She's gonna be nuts when she finally figures out how to crawl." Lucas says laughing. "I'm more afraid of when she learns how to walk." I look around the living room at all the picture frames that hold memories of our family and friends and our new addition. My eyes stop at a professional picture we had done when Ellie was only a month old. Me and Lucas are sitting side by side, looking at each other, and both holding Ellie. We both look so happy. 

I see her scoot over to where her toys are scattered and then she stops. There's a toy basketball that Nathan got for her, and a baby doll. "Don't do it! Go for the baby!" I say laughing. She reaches out to the basketball and Lucas throws his hands up in the air. "Yes!" he exclaims. "See, even though we didn't have boy, we can still have a future professional basketball player." he tells me. "Yeah, the way she's growing, you might not be far off." I say.

At all of the baby's checkups, her pediatrician is always so pleased with how much she's growing and how healthy she is. According to him, if she stays on this track, she's going to be a very tall and very thin teenager.

"Do you mind watching her for a few hours? I need to go into the office and work on some projects for the next issue of the magazine." I ask Luke.

"No problem. Call me when you go on lunch and we'll come by and see you." he says.

I get up and go into the bedroom to get dressed and get my stuff.

I come back out in the living room and scoop Ellie into my arms as she giggles wildly. I don't think I could ever love anything more. She's my entire world. "You be good for daddy, okay? I'll see you in a few hours." I tell her as I kiss her tiny nose.

I kiss Lucas, and head out the door. "Looks like it's just you and me, baby girl." he tells Ellie.

When I get into work, I start working on some new drawings for the next issue. My artwork has remained a huge part of my life, just like how it was in high school. For a while, my artwork took a serious turn to the darkside when I was dealing with the situation of Lucas and being pregnant, but it's become considerably brighter since things have gotten better. 

My editor comes up to the desk and hands me a present. "What's this?" I ask. "I saw it, and I thought Ellie would love it." Jud says. I rip off the wrapping paper and laugh. It's a pink Sesame Street baby purse. "Awww. She's gonna love it. She's always trying to get into my purses." I laugh. He takes a look at the sheet I'm working on. It's a drawing of Lucas holding Ellie, both sleeping. "You know, Peyton, when I had my first interview with you, you said that we could take it or leave it. But if we left it, we would miss out on that five percent where there was a silver lining. I'm really glad that we decided to take it. You've grown remarkably as an artist in the past few years, and I'm proud of how far you've come, and what you've endured. I'm really happy that you found your silver lining." he tells me. 

"Thanks." I say, moved by the exchange.

I go back to working on my drawing when I get an IM from Haley on my laptop. 

TutorGrl: Hey Peyton

PunkandDisorderly: Hey, what's up?

TutorGrl: Wanted to invite you and Lucas and the baby over for dinner

PunkandDisorderly: Don't think we have plans. I'll call Luke and see what's going on.

TutorGrl: Okay, just let me know. Gimme a call.

I call Lucas. "Hey babe." he answers. "Hey, I just got an IM from Haley. She wanted to know if we wanted to come over for dinner tonight." I tell him. "Yeah, that sounds great. You almost ready for a break?" he asks me. "Yeah, bring pudgy by." I tell him. We've come to start calling Ellie "pudgy" because she's just so adorably...pudgy. Half an hour later, Lucas shows up at **Thud ** all decked out with the diaper bag, toys, bottles, and the baby carrier. "Wow, you learn quick." I laugh. "Who knew that babies would need more accessories than their moms?" Lucas asks. He sets the baby carrier down on my desk and I lift Ellie out.

"Hey big girl. Mommy missed you." I tell her. 

She smiles up at me and coos as if to say "I missed you too! Let's play!"

I pick up the purse that Jud got for her and she immediately grabs for it. The girl's already got a sense of fashion.

Lucas kisses me. "Hi." he whispers.

"Hi back." 

I sit down in my computer chair and rub my temple with the hand that isn't holding Ellie. "You okay?" Lucas asks. "Yeah, I just feel a headache coming on. I haven't been sleeping too great the last few nights." I tell him. 

Later that night, we take the baby and head over to Nathan and Haley's house. 

"Hi Uncle Lucas. Hi Aunt Peyton!" Jaime says.

I hug him tightly. "Hey little guy. Where's mom and dad?" I ask him

"In the kitchen cooking." he tells me.

We make our way inside. I take Ellie out of her baby carrier and she seems really glad to be held. We go into the kitchen and find Nathan and Haley kissing. "Oops." I say. Lucas covers his eyes. "Really didn't need to see that guys." he says. Haley laughs. Haley hugs me. "Hey little one." she says as she tickles Ellie. Ellie giggles and grabs Haley's finger. "She finally sleeping through the night?" Nathan asks. "Just about. She usually wakes up around 3 am wanting to be fed, but other than that, she's out cold." I tell him.

Lucas and I help Nathan and Haley finish up dinner. When we finally sit down to eat, we're all starving. "So we've got some news." Nathan says. "Oh yeah? That's rare." I laugh. "What's up?" Lucas asks. "I'm pregnant. We're gonna have another baby." Haley says. I nearly choke on my soda. "Really!" "Yeah." she says laughing. Me and Lucas both hug her.

"When did you find out?" Lucas asks.

"A couple days ago. We wanted to tell you guys right away but we know that you guys are busy with the baby and everything." Nathan says.

"Nate, come on this is huge. You could've called anytime." I tell him.

"Jaime, do you want a little brother or a little sister?" Lucas asks him.

"I want a brother! Girls aren't any fun." Jaime says.

"Ellie's fun." Lucas argues.

"Ellie's a baby." he says.

"Watch, she's gonna grow up and she's gonna be the coolest girl you know. You guys are gonna be great friends." I tell Jaime.

Right before we're about to leave Nathan and Haley's house, Karen calls and wants to know if we can drop the baby off to spend the night. I look at Lucas.

"You want to?" I ask him

"Yeah, that'll give us some alone time." he says. I roll my eyes.

We leave and head over to Karen's and drop off the baby. "What are we gonna do for a whole night without the baby to keep us entertained?" I ask Lucas.

"Oh, I'm sure we can think of something." he says with a gleam in his eye.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

When we get back to the house, it's eerily quiet. "Wow...what on earth did we do before Ellie?" I ask Lucas. He steps closer to me and kisses me softly. "This." he whispers. "Oh right. That." I whisper. He kisses my neck and I giggle. "And a little bit of that." "Now I remember." I breathe into his ear. I throw my purse on the couch and we make our way upstairs. Lucas kicks the door closed behind him as we continue kissing heatedly. I run my hands through his hair and just get lost in the moment. We break apart for about ten seconds to take off our clothes and chuck them on the floor. We fall back on the bed, tangled up in each other.

We stop kissing and Lucas looks deep into my eyes. "I love you more than anything in this world." he whispers. I smile and look down, blushing slightly. "I love you too. I never stopped." I tell him. We make love slowly and sweetly, just enjoying each other. Afterwards, we're sprawled out on the bed and I have my head on Lucas' chest. "Will you marry me?" he asks. I giggle. "I don't think the blood has gotten back to your brain yet." "I'm serious Peyton." I prop myself up on my elbow and take a good long look at him and know that he's not joking. "You're serious." "Yeah. I'm serious." he tells me. My mind is racing and all I can say is "wow". I'm still sitting there with my mind racing when Lucas opens the top drawer of the nightstand and pulls out a ring. He sits up in bed and holds out the ring. "No regrets Peyt." he whispers. I look up at him with tears in my eyes. "Never?" "My only regret is being a jackass and leaving you. But we got second chance, and I don't want to waste it. Peyton, will you marry me?" "Yes. Yes, I will marry you. I would marry you tomorrow." I tell him. I wipe the tears away from my eyes as Lucas slips the ring on my finger. We hug tightly.

I look at him with tears in my eyes. "You know, when I got that phone call from you that night, I felt a piece of my heart die. But slowly it's just been rebuilding itself since you came back. And I think it's finally done." I tell him. We fall asleep in each others arms with light hearts and smiles on our faces.

The next morning, we drive over to Karen's to go pick up Elizabeth. Karen opens the door and we're both smiling from ear to ear. "Okay, what did I miss?" she asks. I hold up my left hand and she gasps and looks from me to Lucas. "Congratulations!" she screams as she hugs us both. We come inside and peek into the crib and Ellie's just starting to wake up. "How was she?" I ask. "We got home and she had a bottle and she was down for the whole night." Karen tells me. Lucas lifts her out of the crib and we both kiss her. "I can't believe you guys are getting married!" she exclaims. Lucas and I smile. "I don't want to wait. I think we should just have a small wedding with everyone we love there to celebrate. I want to do it right away." I tell Luke. "Are you sure?" he asks. "I don't need a big wedding. I would marry you if it was just us and we were both in jeans." I tell him.

After we leave Karen's with Ellie, we go to tell Brooke and Nathan and Haley and there's a lot of screaming and crying. Everyone jumps in and helps with starting the wedding planning. Brooke demands that she gets to make my wedding dress, which I was going to ask her to do anyway. We only have two weeks to pull the whole thing together, but I know that it will be absolutely perfect.

Two weeks later, I'm standing in the dressing room in the church with Haley and Brooke and putting on my wedding dress. Brooke zips me up and I take a look at myself in the mirror. "Brooke, you totally outdid yourself. This is amazing." I tell her. The dress is full on princess with the big ballgown skirt and ten foot train. We get the cue to go ahead and Haley fixes my veil. "I couldn't do this without you guys. I love both of you so much." I tell them. We all hug.

When my dad comes in to get me, he stops in his tracks and just gasps. "Peyton, you look so beautiful." he says with a tear in his eye. I know that he's thinking that my mom should be here, and I'm thinking the same thing. I hug him with tears in my eyes. We stand arm in arm waiting to walk down the aisle and I take a deep breath. "You're going to do great." he tells me. I smile. When we finally reach Lucas, I can't help but smile. Dad hands me off to Lucas and we step up to the altar. We listen to the preacher talk about the eternal commitment of marriage and how we're giving our lives to one another. Finally it's time for the vows.

"Do you, Lucas Eugene Scott, take Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer to be your wedded wife? To have and to hold, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do."

The preacher turns to me. "Do you, Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer, take Lucas Eugene Scott to be your wedded husband? To have and to hold, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?"

Suddenly, the unthinkable happens...I feel like I have to sneeze. I hesitate for a moment and I see a look of sheer panic in Lucas' eyes. I sneeze softly and everyone laughs. I look up at Lucas with tears of laughter in my eyes. "I'm so sorry." I laugh. "God bless you." the preacher says. I smile at him and turn back to Lucas. "I do." Lucas smiles that beautiful smile at me and I just melt. We exchange rings and the preacher pronounces us husband and wife. "You may kiss your bride." he tells Lucas. He lifts my viel and we kiss softly. "Well, your stuck with me now." he whispers, smiling. I laugh and kiss him again.

We get into our limo and drive from the church to Tric, where the receptlon is being held. When we walk in, we're both amazed. The place is beautiful. All the tables have beautiful flower centerpieces and candles on them, there's purple bunting everywhere, it's amazing.

Mouth gets on the mic. "Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming Mr. and Mrs. Scott!" he announces. Everyone claps and cheers as we make our way into the club.

Karen hands me Ellie, who's in a mini replica of my dress, minus the train and veil. She looks at me and smiles. Lucas kisses me and then kisses the baby. The photographer comes over and takes a picture of the three of us.

"We're finally a real family." Lucas says.

"We were a real family long before this." I tell him.

"Yeah, but now it's official. Nobody can take this away from us." he whispers. We kiss.

Author's Note: I really hope that you guys enjoyed this story. The creative juices were having trouble flowing towards the end, so I figured that I would finish it off with the marriage of Lucas and Peyton. Tell me what you thought!


End file.
